Close Reading Assignment #1
The relationship between Laura and Lizzie is one that is strange and somewhat undefined. When reading the text one could safely assume that the two sisters have a form of a mother-daughter relationship in which Lizzie is representative of the mother figure and Laura; the daughter. Even though the ages of the girls is not stated, a reader could more than likely conclude that Lizzie would be older than Laura by a few years. However, embedded in the third stanza there is a couplet that may be easily glossed over and missed by readers that would contradict these assumptions. At the beginning of the text when the goblin men attempt to seduce Lizzie and Laura to buy their fruit, Lizzie “[Thrusted] a dimpled finger / In …show more content…
We can also see the use of internal rhyme, linking the words crab-apples and pine-apples between lines 12 and 13. Rossetti also employs enjambment in the couplet “All ripe together / In summer weather” (15-16). Her use of these poetic devices creates a smoothness and flow to the text. This smoothness blends with descriptions of the fruits to create imagery and help the readers picture the events of the story in their minds. We can also learn about the goblin men and their fruits through these lines. This list of fruit provided in the first stanza is quite extensive and it should be noted that in lines 15-16 Rossetti adds that the fruit are all ripe at the same time. This is quite peculiar and may raise the reader's suspicions. It is very unlikely that all of these fruits are in season and ripen concurrently, therefore the fruits offered by the goblins are most likely “magical” in some way or not as they appear to be. This foreshadows early on that the intentions of the goblin men and their fruit are most likely malicious. This is later confirmed towards the end of the text when the juice from the fruit is “Wormwood to [Laura’s] tongue” (494). When paying close attention to the details provided in the text, we are able to easily picture the text in our minds and pull out implicit story
The relationship between Laura and Lizzie is one that is strange and somewhat undefined. When reading the text one could safely assume that the two sisters have a form of a mother-daughter relationship in which Lizzie is representative of the mother figure and Laura; the daughter. Even though the ages of the girls is not stated, a reader could more than likely conclude that Lizzie would be older than Laura by a few years. However, embedded in the third stanza there is a couplet that may be easily glossed over and missed by readers that would contradict these assumptions. At the beginning of the text when the goblin men attempt to seduce Lizzie and Laura to buy their fruit, Lizzie “[Thrusted] a dimpled finger / In …show more content…
We can also see the use of internal rhyme, linking the words crab-apples and pine-apples between lines 12 and 13. Rossetti also employs enjambment in the couplet “All ripe together / In summer weather” (15-16). Her use of these poetic devices creates a smoothness and flow to the text. This smoothness blends with descriptions of the fruits to create imagery and help the readers picture the events of the story in their minds. We can also learn about the goblin men and their fruits through these lines. This list of fruit provided in the first stanza is quite extensive and it should be noted that in lines 15-16 Rossetti adds that the fruit are all ripe at the same time. This is quite peculiar and may raise the reader's suspicions. It is very unlikely that all of these fruits are in season and ripen concurrently, therefore the fruits offered by the goblins are most likely “magical” in some way or not as they appear to be. This foreshadows early on that the intentions of the goblin men and their fruit are most likely malicious. This is later confirmed towards the end of the text when the juice from the fruit is “Wormwood to [Laura’s] tongue” (494). When paying close attention to the details provided in the text, we are able to easily picture the text in our minds and pull out implicit story